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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Last night I attended a private affair to celebrate the opening of Redfish Kids Clothing's first flagship store in Vancouver. Previously Redfish was only available online and in select boutiques around the world. The popularity of the brand has exploded since it's inception in 2005 and opening a flagship store became a natural next step for Co-Founder's Lorraine Kitsos and Kristy Brinkley. A second flagship will be opening in West Vancouver in the coming months.

The flagship at 851 Hornby Street is exquisite in it's curation of the vibrant, beautifully designed Red Fish label. The boutique also boasts a careful selection of handpicked items from quirky children's art books, to giant stuffed flamingos and jewelry for mother and daughter. The time honoured brands behind these additional store items are names such as Petit Bateau, Steiff Germany, Raplapla from Montreal and Playsam Toys from the UK.

The flagship has been designed to maximize the impact of the colourful prints Redfish is famous for. The clean, white aesthetic, and glass-topped display tables give the store a cheerful, open feel and the children's seating area makes it a welcoming environment for families to shop in. Lorraine told me that everything from the "tree" displayed in the front window to the wonderfully detailed wall paper were in house designed, making the store a true labour of love.

I could have spent hours discovering all the little details that makes the Redfish Kid's Clothing Flagship a must visit destination. Not only for local Vancouverites, but also for visitors from around the world sourcing locally created, sweat shop free children's clothing.

The Grand Opening for the store is on Saturday, June 2nd during regular store hours, 10-6 PM, and continues on Sunday from 12-5 PM. There will be crafts and face painting for the kiddies, and plenty of eye candy for parents. Come and celebrate with Redfish!

Beatrice: faithful Redfish Model and daughter of cofounder Lorraine Kitsos wearing one of next year's looks

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Engaging the senses is one of the best ways for a child to learn and the Vancouver International Children's Festivalis a feast of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell! We used our festival activity pass to visit the three-year-old friendly tents. Levi was in his element making a new puppet friend in the Sock It To Me Tent. He has a wild imagination and so Mr. Puppet will now join the ranks of Jesus, Chickadee and Owl in the forever friend group.

Ben is on holiday and we're making it a raw food week using the Eat Well, Eat Raw book. Usually our vacay's tends to go hand-in-hand with gorging. But really, isn't a holiday supposed to be about feeling healthy and refreshed by the end of it, instead of well, fatter? Our raw food festival lunch included the Sun-Dried Tomato and Carrot Burgers and the Red Pepper, Dill and Cashew Ricotta as a dip.

The Soundscape area was a huge hit. It was a cacophony of joyous noise that only kids can make when bashing together various hand made instruments.

What could be more whimsical than a labyrinth made of bunting, created by the hands of wee ones?

Jethro spent a lot of time snuggled up in the Ergo but the Festival had a fabulous Twist and Toddle Tent for 0-5's to play around in. I love this little guy so hard. Look at that baby tongue and crazy hair!

The Vancouver International Children's Festival runs until June 3rd on Granville Island. Don't miss the chance to take your kidlets!

P.S. You can still vote for Elasticpantcity as one of Vancouver's Top Mommy Blogs!

Monday, May 28, 2012

Can you spot me? Look for the bad perm, big glasses, skinny legs and awkward smile. Every one has an awkward phase but mine lasted for 19 years. Remember Napoleon Dynamite? I was his female counterpart.

Maybe Elasticpantcity is my Pedro, Napoleon's friend with the boldness and confidence to run for class president. The vote for your favourite Vancouver Mom Blogger is now on and you can vote for up to five of the fabulous mommy blogs featured on VancouverMom.ca. I'd be honoured if Elasticpantcity made it to your top five list!

Friday, May 25, 2012

Yippee! Stephanie, you won the passes to the Vancouver International Children's Festival.You can pick up the passes (on the day you wish to use them) on Granville Island, at the Festival Box Office. In other news, Elasticpantcity has been nominated as one of VancouverMom.ca's Top 30 Fabulous Mom Bloggers! Voting for the Top Mommy Blog begins on Monday so watch for the link. The prize is lounge wear from DIA, and I wouldn't mind that one bit, so please get your vote on. Shameless, I know, but my jammie bottoms look like a dog has chewed through them and my hubby has noticed.

One of my favorite things to do is take photos with my sister-in-law, Lizzy. She always has such a unique view and captures the moment perfectly.

My children wouldn't pose with me but Pepper was a great replacement. He's such a big fuzzy, wuzzy bundle of love.

Here's a behind the scenes shot. I didn't realize there was a ladder on the other side of the treehouse. I think there's an analogy for life in there somewhere... butt I'm tired so I'll leave it at that.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

I'm feeling slightly raw emotionally today so I thought it might be a good opportunity to discuss why I think the raw food diet is da bomb (I'm sorry). I've been dabbling around in vegetarianism for a number of years but I've read enough books to know that even a vegetarian diet can be leached of all nutrients by excessive heating, frying, and baking. I was fortunate to be sent Eat Raw, Eat Well by Douglas McNish for review and I'm happy to say this cook food book is the shizzle to my nizzle (sorry again). The book is full of recipes using only raw food ingredients, from appetizers, to mains, to deserts, I've found an idea for every occasion. Sometimes with alternative diets the list of unusual ingredients can be daunting but I've found everything required, with a quick stop at my local Whole Foods. Most of the recipes call for some variety of nuts, legumes, and fresh spices. A food processor and blender are necessary supplies and it would be handy to have a food dehydrator but we're hurting for cupboard and counter space in our kitchen, the clutter has to stop somewhere (Confession: Our deep freeze is in the living room, hidden, but haunting me none the less).

Below is my favorite recipe thus far: Creamy Chickpea Salad. I serve it as a dip with crackers (the non-raw variety).

I love Abeego products. When I'm too lazy to transfer food to a tupperware container I cover the bowl with an Abeego cloth to keep things fresh.

My three year old has eaten all the raw food recipes with out complaint. I feel a bit devious knowing that with all the blending it is impossible for him to tell the variety of vegetables he is consuming, which he might otherwise turn his nose up at (or spit out, let's be honest). Here are some other great reasons I've found for going (mostly) raw:

1. Many of the ingredients can be grown in our garden through the spring, summer and fall.

2. When I'm making a raw food meal I can usually make a similar version of it for my 8 month old by blending the ingredients until completely smooth. No muss no fuss.

3. Sprouting and soaking can be a fun activity for toddlers to participate in.

4. No cooking time makes raw food meals fast to prepare (as long as you plan the soaking or sprouting in advance).

5. While nuts may seem like an expensive ingredient, it balances out with not buying meat.

6. My husband and I feel healthier and more energized when eating raw food.

Monday, May 21, 2012

This dress and I have had a rocky relationship. It started off fitting perfectly and I was going to leave it as the 70s vintage piece that it is. However, two mishaps at the dry cleaners later, including all the buttons disintegrating and serious shrinkage of the sleeves, and I'm ready to rework her into something new. I don't really care for the top half of the dress so I'm going to go to town with my seam ripper and whip up a whole new look on my sewing machine. I'm thinking this sketch below, inspired by the beige and red peplum dress via Vanessa Jackman.

Summer time is beautiful but brief in Vancouver making shorts an item of clothing that only make an appearance for a couple months of the year. Therefore, I like to have fun with my shorts, forget plain cut-offs! The ones above caught my eye because of the variation in cut, colour and print.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

I am not tech savvy. While I own a smart phone I only know the most basic functions and if I tried to carry on a conversation about the newest operating system I wouldn't even be able to tell you if I have a 4G, 4S, 4Me (Why thank-you!). Caya was created for moms who need to use technology but require an explanation of the how to. Telus has opened four of these stylish tech boutiques throughout Vancouver and promises a "Come As You Are" environment. In my case, I came to the Caya Mom's Event ignorant but eager to learn.

The staff at Caya took us through a wide range of the latest Telus products that not only looked hot to trot but would be incredibly useful for a blogger like myself. I was a huge fan of the Nikon polaroid cameras, the Graf and Lantz carry all bags and the Olloclip 2in1 Lens which snaps onto an Iphone camera, allowing for a fish-eye view or wide angle shot. Caya also offers imaging services from passport photos to photo books of all varieties. The boutique has won awards for it's design and functions as a gathering place as well as a retail space. Caya locations can be rented out for intimate fund-raising events by non-profits and other organizations.

The true test of whether or not Caya is a place to hit up for tech services took place on my return visit to have a complimentary photo book printed off. The staff were incredibly hospitable and while my photo book was printing off, were eager to answer my questions. I imagine they could have rolled their eyes when I asked, "What's a smart phone (I honestly didn't know that an Iphone, Blackberry, etc. are all referred to as smart phones)?"Instead they went through a clear and concise explanation of why the various types of smart phones are preferred for different reasons. I feel smarter now (ha, ha....haaa).

Inside the Caya store on Granville. Display tables are on wheels to make room for events

Couldn't resist trying the Olloclip fish bowl lens

*Disclaimer-While I am invited to these events in order to blog about the products or services I only do if I genuinely enjoyed the experience or think the dissemination of the product information would be useful to Elasticpantcity readers.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day! This year, Mother's Day landed on Levi's third birthday. It was his little life that made me a mommy in the first place. Part of the joy of knowing your child is realizing how they are geared and celebrating that through whatever means are at your disposal. Levi has a tremendous imagination so I took great pleasure in bringing his love of dinosaurs to life through a dino themed birthday party. There were terrariums inhabited by little dinosaurs for the kids to make and a volcano cake. I've made one other cake in my life so it was bit ambitious to attempt, but the end result was rather epic. I can't take credit for the how to, but I will take credit for the hours spent labouring in love to make Levi a cake he'd remember.

The idea for using dry ice to create an exploding volcano is from here. The base of the cake is a simple carrot cake with dyed green, cream cheese icing. I'm not sure who appreciated the dry ice more, the kids, or the dad's who played around with the left overs.

It's rather timely that on a day when I'm celebrating my child, I get to announce a great giveaway of passes to the Vancouver International Children's Festival! Elasticpantcity reader's have the opportunity to win a family 4-pack of Site Activity Passes to the festival, taking place May 29 to June 3 on Granville Island. The passes are good for one day and allow your family access to a world of art and music in three activity zones. To check out all the fabulous activities available visit here. To enter the contest simply leave a comment below and tell me why you'd be excited to take your children, grand children, nieces, nephews, etc. to the festival. The winner will be randomly selected on May 24th and announced on Elasticpantcity. Passes will be available for pick-up at the Festival Box Office on Granville Island.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Things around Elasticpantcity have been crazy busy. I blame it on Pinterest. If it weren't for this virtual pin board of inspiration, kid's birthday parties would be simple, theme free fetes. However, I've been drinking the cool-aid and despite the extra work of creating a theme party, I'm super excited for Levi's Dino-themed, third birthday. And so is he. We're going to build terrariums instead of having goody bags. The one below is a practice one I threw together, but I can't wait to see the kids creating their own little dino worlds. All the decorations and supplies for the terrariums came to just $40.

We've been letting Levi experiment with our old digital camera. Most of his pictures are blurry but I imagine at the pace three-year-olds move, the world is often blurry. He loves this new activity. I'm considering blowing up this Levi original for our wall.

I picked up this old brass framed mirror at the thrift store and decided we needed some neon in our lives. I think I'mgoing to love it. If not there's always more spray paint.

Can we just pause for a minute and acknowledge how incredibly cute these rice babies are!? They are on the top of my toy wish list for my little guys and any sweet little girls I know. I saw these rice babies up close at the Got Craft? event and fell in love with all the itty bitty details. Yes, the girl and boy on the right are sporting tattoo sleeves!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Last night was the 2012 Costume Institute Gala (CIG) at the Met Museum in New York. Although I'm more inclined to browse personal style blogs for fanciful fashion the CIG is my favourite event for gahing over gorgeous gowns (Couldn't resist the alliteration). I narrowed it down to a few of my favourite looks.

Of all the dresses, this is the one I can envision wearing. Let me count the ways I love thee: long sleeves, floor length hem, cinched waist, subtly sexy collar, burnt orange, vintage feel, RODARTE.

Kirsten Dunst

The cut on this Prada dress goes from simple on top to Ms. Gertrude McFuzz on bottom.

"But she knew to approach him would probably fail, because who'd notice a bird with a one feather tail?" - Suessical

Diane Krueger

Another Prada number that captures my adoration. If Zany and Classy were to have a baby, it would be this dress.

Angela Lindvall

Confession time. I watched all the Olsen Twin tween movies (When I was not a tween) because even then I thought they were fashion mavericks. Fast forward 10 years, The Row is a clothing line by the duo where each season I eagerly await their latest collection.

Mary-Kate Olsen

To sum up what I look for in a fancy dress: long, mostly monochrome, classy but zany, subtly Suess.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

You know those old photos where people always had to look angry? Well, I thought I'd give it a try. I've never seen the horror flick, The Birds, but the print on this dress brings to mind what I imagine the film to portray, people being flocked by, well, birds. And if I was being attacked by birds I think I'd be angry... do you see where I'm going with this? Nope. All you're thinking about is Angry Birds. Fair enough.

I realize I've taken a turn for the weird. But honestly, I love this quirky, vintage dress (And yes, my legs really are that pale).